1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera using film provided with a magnetic recording section on which information, such as film information and photographic information, is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique for recording and reproducing such film information and photographic information on and from a magnetic recording section provided for film is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,332.
In the camera using the above type of film, exposure information can be detected from a cartridge indicator and magnetic information recorded on the film. By virtue of the exposure information, even after the partially exposed film has been rewound and removed from the camera, it can be reused by setting an unexposed frame of the film in the aperture of the camera.
The above type of camera requires a writing magnetic head for recording magnetic information on the film which is being fed and a reading magnetic head for reproducing magnetic information from the film. Cameras provided with a single magnetic head for writing and reading magnetic information have already been put into practice. Such a magnetic head is, however, generally large and is sometimes difficult to fit into the camera in terms of the layout of the product.
In contrast, the camera in which a writing magnetic head and a reading magnetic head are separately provided has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-3741. In this camera both magnetic heads can be downsized, thereby making the layout of the product relatively easy.
In the above-described double-magnetic-head camera, the magnetic information which has just been written by the writing head is immediately read so as to check in real time whether it has been correctly recorded on the film. In order to implement this checking system, the reading magnetic head should be located near the leading portion of the film in the direction in which the film is fed, while the writing magnetic head should be placed in the vicinity of the trailing portion of the film. In general, the writing magnetic head is located also at the edge of the aperture (near the take-up spool) to facilitate the operation of writing information concerning the exposed frames into the magnetic recording section, which operation is performed when the exposed film is wound up. Accordingly, the reading magnetic head is inevitably placed closer to the take-up spool than the writing magnetic head.
The following problem is encountered when the reading magnetic head is located near the take-up spool. Most take-up spools contain a feeding motor, and noise from the motor sometimes travels to the reading magnetic head while reading the magnetic information, thereby causing reading errors.
Moreover, the flatness of the film is impaired when the reading magnetic head is placed in the vicinity of the take-up spool, although the flatness of the aperture is ensured because of the presence of a film feeding passage using a pressing plate. Accordingly, the reading magnetic head cannot always properly contact the film while the film is fed, and reading errors concerning the magnetic information may also occur. Due to the reading errors, double exposure may be caused when the foregoing type of camera is used in which the partially exposed film can be reused upon determination as to whether the film frames are exposed or unexposed based on the written magnetic information.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera in which a film is fed from a film cartridge and is wound around a film winding portion. The camera comprises: a recording head for recording magnetic information on the film, and a reading head for reading the magnetic information from the film. The reading head is placed away from the film winding portion farther than the recording head is away from the film winding portion. With this arrangement, magnetic-information reading errors from the film can be minimized. Further, the camera is easy to fabricate in terms of the layout of the product.
Other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.